From Maltese phonology to morphogenesis: A tribute to David Cohen

Martine Vanhove (1)

1 LLACAN - Langage, LAngues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire

This paper is an overview of the pioneer contributions of David Cohen to Maltese synchronic and diachronic phonology. The focus is on four critical issues in this domain: the evolution and the phonological status of the pharyn-geal fricative għ and the laryngeal fricative h; the influence of the " emphatic " and " back " consonants on the development of the current vocalic system; the raising and fronting of the back short and long vowels a and ā traditionally termed imaala; the historical phonology of the oldest written Maltese poem, the Cantilena. Cohen's works are presented within the general background of Ara-bic dialectology in which he was completely at ease, and briefly compared with other scholar's work on the same topics.

Mots clés: Maltese; phonology; synchrony; diachrony; comparative linguistics; Arabic dialectology

Domaines: Linguistique

Martine Vanhove. From Maltese phonology to morphogenesis: A tribute to David Cohen. Gilbert Puech & Benjamin Saade. Shifts and patterns in Maltese, De Gruyter, Mouton, pp.1-15, 2016. ⟨halshs-01411362⟩